Family Ties
by Kez-bunniemom
Summary: ‘Butler is taking Artemis away. Away from the ruthless people that hunt him in Ireland. On the road together, Artemis knows Butler is hiding something. A terrible secret that could change his life forever.’ A revised version of my first fanfic, Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Family ties.**

**'Butler is taking Artemis away. Away from the ruthless people that hunt him in Ireland. On the road together, Artemis knows Butler is hiding something. A terrible secret that could change his life forever.'**

_Authors note:_

_((This is the revised edit of my first ever Fanfic, Family ties. A lot of the original material is kept, but a few things changed hopefully not too noticable for previous fans :)_

_So, yeah. Hi. I will be your host for this evening, please call me Kez, or K or Kelly. Whichever, I don't care that much. As long as it is not some offensive term. Even then, I probably won't be bothered. I'm a very easy-going kind of person._

_Just don't chat speak anywhere near me, or I WILL bring out the spork._

_You have been warned._

_Kelly. (Kez, K, Kel, Kezzer) xx))_

Disclaimer:

I do not own darling Arty or his minions. Except in my mind.

Apart for my mind, Eoin Colfer is the creator and controls them all blah blah blah.

Chapter One

Artemis barely recognised what was going on through the fog of his brain. When one sleeps for an extended period in a car, no matter how comfortable and expensive said car might be, the outside world becomes somewhat blurry. As the sleeper falls into unconsciousness, a part of him (or her) stays in a daydreamlike state and is aware of whatever bumps and/or turns in the road there might be.

In this case, Artemis' daydreamlike part of his brain had told him that they had stopped. This was interesting enough for Artemis to decide he wanted to wake up.

Why would they have stopped?

He opened his eyes and raised his head, wincing slightly. He had been resting his head on the window for the better part of 3 hours and sustained pressure of that magnitude would give anyone a headache. Never mind the state his neck was in.

His blue eyes took in the scene outside the window, people (Not very many but people nonetheless), cars and concrete. A petrol station.

It did not take him long to realise that Butler was no longer in the drivers seat. This was not particularly groundbreaking. The bodyguard was probably inside, paying for the petrol and would be watching the car from the building as he handed over a credit card. Artemis wouldn't normally feel so vulnerable, but these were not normal circumstances. Never before, had Artemis actually needed guarding so relentlessly.

He felt the shivers tingling up his spine and along his limbs, as they usually did when he was extremely tired and had not slept for very long. This feeling was also accompanied by slight nausea, that Artemis eased himself by sitting further upright in his seat and wriggling around a bit until he was more comfortable. He yawned a couple of times and looked around again, a little longer this time and carefully too. Artemis scrutinized each person on the forecourt, ensuring their normality before turning his gaze to the building where customers paid.

Sure enough, he could see Butler's shoulders and head as he waited in the queue. As if he could tell he was being watched, Butler turned his head and glanced straight at Artemis. Artemis smiled slightly, as if to confer that all was well. His butler nodded, almost imperceptibly in his direction and stepped up to the desk to pay. Artemis looked away and cast his gaze farther, past the forecourt and on to the motorway he could see not too far away. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Large hills, more like mountains broke up the green landscape, some fog lingered around their peaks and sheep could only just be picked up from so far away, barely seen as small white dots.

Artemis was jolted as Butler opened the car door and got into the seat. He quickly relaxed. Not totally though. You could never properly drop your guard, especially not at times like this. Butler closed his door and held out a bottle of water towards Artemis.

"Sorry if I woke you up." He said.

Artemis took the bottle, "You didn't, I woke up myself. Thank you."

Butler started the engine and pulled out of the petrol station while Artemis drank.

"Where are we?" Artemis asked, screwing the lid back onto the bottle and stowing it away in a side pocket.

"About half an hour away from Toronto." He glanced at his charge and noted the look on his face, "You were asleep a long time, nearly 6 hours. I've stopped once already but you didn't stir. I didn't know if you wanted something to eat or not so I bought you some food but left you sleeping."

"6 hours?"…Artemis must have been more exhausted than he thought.

"Have we been followed?"

Butler pulled out of the services and onto the motorway itself, then answered, "Not that I can tell. Unless they have some kind of aircraft, there is no sign of them."

"We don't know how determined they might be…they could be pulling out all the stops, infra-red and everything."

"Leave the worrying to me, we are safe for now, I promise."

----------------()----------------

_((Hmm….why is Butler so chummy all of a sudden? Who is following Arty and his bodyguard? Why are the circumstances not normal?_

So many questions!

You'll just have to wait and see…

_Reviews would be lovely if at all possible, feel free to flame away I do not mind, everything is constructive as far as I'm concerned.))  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Artemis was not particularly convinced. He still worried. No sane person wouldn't worry in his situation. Still, he kept his thoughts to himself as they drove on along the motorway.

Artemis did, however have an urge to go back to sleep, but he pushed it aside. He had already had too much sleep. Now was the time for planning, not unconsciousness.

Throughout the 23-hour flight to the States and the 8-hour drive that followed, there had been silence, only broken occasionally when Artemis asked Butler a question about where they were or what time is was and by the meaningless drone of the radio.

Obviously, for 6 of those 8 car-driving hours, Artemis had wasted time that could have been spent doing more important things, such as planning what to do next. It was easy to think things like this when he was awake and did not feel quite so exhausted. Needless to say, at the moment he did fall asleep, he certainly wasn't thinking about anything other than how impossibly hopeless his situation was.

Artemis hated being out of the loop, he always had to be on top of things, even as a child at school he would look through the teachers curriculum beforehand to be aware of what he was facing. He mentally shook himself and did what he usually did in situations that needed planning.

Listing facts, details and possibilities in his head.

They were in America._ Fact._ That was an easy one to begin with.

They were most likely being followed. _Fact._

His parents would be worried sick._ Possibility_.

After all, it was their fault he was in this mess. For all he knew, they hadn't ever loved or cared about him. It could all have been a lie. Except Butler of course, Butler was the one person he could trust implicitly.

Someone was out to get him._ Fact._ Why they were out to get him was unclear, he would have to work that out later. When they got to wherever they were going.

Whoever was out to get him wanted to kill him. _Possibility_. Artemis did not know what they wanted. If they had wanted to kill him, they probably could have done so back in Fowl Manor.

So that led to a question. What did they want? Another one to work out once they arrived at their destination. Speaking of destination….

"Butler?"

"Yes Artemis?"

"Where exactly is it we are going?"

Artemis suddenly realised that he had not yet asked his bodyguard that question. They had been in such a rush to get out of the UK that he had not even thought to ask.

"Well. I was hoping to find Juliet, but…" He hesitated but then went on, "your parents knew where she was but had given me a number that didn't work. She left in such a hurry; I can't even remember why I didn't ask her for it myself…in any case, I know she is in Toronto for definite.

We'll go there and see what we can find. Once we find her, then we can discuss our next move. She must have some information about those people who were trying to take you. That would explain why your parents wanted her to leave so quickly. I have a feeling that the phone call from her friend two days ago was staged and they just wanted her out of the way."

"Yes, I had thought of that," Artemis sighed and his brow furrowed as he thought, "I noticed that Juliet herself had not actually spoken to that 'friend' of hers and that my parents were acting strangely…She must have found something out. It would have been minor; otherwise…they would have taken more drastic action. In any case, before she left she did say there was something important to talk to me about."

Butler nodded, "Yes, well, we shall just have to wait and see I suppose."

Artemis sighed. He was even more worried than before. Toronto was such a large city, Juliet could be anywhere and they had no leads to follow whatsoever. Even her wrestling career would not help them. She had performed in Toronto before but now she was there for other reasons. They could not track her down that way. There was not even any evidence to suggest that she would still be in Toronto, she could have left for any other city once she found out her friend was not really in trouble. Artemis rubbed his forehead, his headache was back again. He took another drink of water and rested his head against the window. They were now fast approaching Toronto, the lanes of the motorway peeling off to their various destinations. Artemis was not worried about reaching his destination, he was, however uneasy about what he'd find once they got there.

----------------()----------------

((So that's the second chapter, it's not drastically different to my last version I just hope to polish up the odd sentence and make things flow better. That's the benefit of having waited for 3 years since doing the last one is when I re-read, I'm reading as a reader if that makes sense. So I know better how it sounds as a story :) In my last edit, I had polls at the end of each chapter so here we go!

Should I:

A: Combine smaller chapters like this to make big chapters and leave it longer between updates?

Or

B: Leave them as they are and post them faster?

R&R! Thanks ))


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Silence fell onto the car once again as they entered the outskirts of Toronto. Artemis had never been to Toronto before, mostly sticking to L.A and New York, because they were the most popular with the multi-millionaires who had meetings with him.

Toronto did not seem all too different from the other cities he had been to. There was still the traffic, packed pavements and a lot more pollution then he was comfortable with. Still, the necessities of life were not always pleasant.

As they wound their way further into the city, Artemis became more aware of a slight niggling feeling in the pit of his stomach. While a large city was perfect for cover, it also came with it's own dangers. All someone had to do was flash some money around and relay a description of Butler and they would be pointed in the right direction quicker than you could say 'Which way?'. The more people that were around, the larger percentage of them would be enemies.

Artemis frowned. Sometimes a mind that analyses every danger was more of a burden than a gift.

Butler noticed the frown, "What's wrong?"

Artemis sighed, "I just don't like cities. At least, not when we are in this kind of situation."

Butler nodded, he had been thinking the same thing.

Night had began to fall, the second night they had spent in North America. Neon signs were switched on and streetlights sputtered into life, Butler pulled onto a relatively empty road and cruised along it slowly.

"Artemis, how would you feel about finding a hotel? We won't be able to make any progress on finding Juliet this late, in the dark."

Artemis shrugged, "I don't mind at all, I think you should do what you feel is best."

Butler nodded and sped up the car a little, turning onto a main street.

This time, HE felt the small niggle of fear. Or was it dread? Panic? Or all three?

He took a breath and concentrated on driving, shrugging off the feeling and gripping the steering wheel. Neither of them noticed the ominous black Land Rover with tinted windows turning behind them a few moments later.

They drove on for a few more minutes, past shady motels and dingy B+B's towards the slightly classier side of town. Still, there was no way they would go luxury. That would just be drawing unwanted attention to themselves. It was an unspoken agreement between them both. Artemis remembered the 'life's necessities' line from earlier and tried not to imagine which hotel they would end up in. As they headed down what looked like a promising street, both Artemis and Butler both noticed the black Land Rover. It was no longer lagging behind and keeping inconspicuous, it revved suddenly and almost hit the back bumper of their almost brand new Audi.

The niggling feeling suddenly became a flurry of butterflies and instinct took over. Butler tightened his grip on the steering wheel and took a sharp right turn. With a glance to check Artemis had his seatbelt on, he straightened up the car and floored the accelerator down the main street, dodging the odd car and running a red light. Throughout all of this, the black Land Rover tailed them, cutting the sharp right corner as effortlessly has they had done. Artemis look back, at the Rover now almost bumper-to-bumper with them despite their accelerated speed. He couldn't see the driver or any passengers.

"Artemis, get down. They could be armed."

The bodyguard sounded almost calm as the speedometer crept further…60…70…

Artemis shuffled down in his seat and held on as they turned another corner at breakneck speed. This was not good.

How could he have been so stupid? So complacent? He should have known they would not stop following him once he left the U.K and now look where it had got them!

The chase carried on through the now pitch-dark streets, flashes of light that were streetlamps passed by in a blur. There did not seem to be any gunfire coming from the vehicle behind them, which, Artemis supposed, was good. They were still in a bad situation, although the Land Rover did seem to be slowing a little. It was a good few metres behind them now and seemed to be turning the corners more sluggishly each time. At one point, they even lost complete sight of it.

Butler was smiling grimly, concentrating on keeping the Audi on the road despite the growing traffic. They were heading further into the city, although Butler kept to the less busy roads and alleys.

Now they really had lost the Land rover. Artemis sat further up in his seat and looked around.

No, not any sign of them.

Butler started to slow down, turning into another darker street and breathing out, as if he had been holding his breath the whole time. After a few minutes of cruising, he relaxed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Right, well…"

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, a little shaken but pretty much all in one piece.

"We have to go, they must know we ar-"

Butler was cut off by a loud screeching of tires and a flare of headlights in front of them. Artemis jumped considerably and Butler grabbed the steering wheel again. But it was too late. The Land Rover was too close, it squealed to a halt in front of them and all four doors opened simultaneously as it stopped.

Butler swore, something that certainly didn't happen everyday. His hand reached for his sig-sauer but not before two men dressed in hoodies and with bandannas pulled over their face leapt out of the car and aimed small semi-automatic hand guns at them through the windscreen.

"Don't move!" two of the thugs yelled, moving towards the Audi. Artemis was taken aback by their appearance and was suspicious...was this really the organization that had tracked him halfway across the globe?

The other two men were stationary, marking both Artemis and Butler from the front of the car.

"Artemis, just do everything I say…" Butler muttered to his charge. Artemis nodded and readied himself for action.

Artemis watched the two guys approaching their car, feeling sudden nerves as one of the men reached Artemis' door. He wrenched it open and aimed the gun at Artemis' head.

"Don't move, put your hands behind your head and get out of the car. NOW!"

Before Artemis could obey, Butler thrust an arm across his back and pushed him down violently, in one fluid movement drawing his gun and shooting the man, twice through the heart. In the same beat, he twisted around and shot the man who had just opened his door twice, once in the leg and once through the shoulder. He jumped out of the Audi and grabbed the man he had just shot, throwing the man's gun aside and using him as a shield.

Artemis guessed what his bodyguard was about to do and kept his head down, the man who was marking him from the front of the car fired repeatedly but the shots went over Artemis' head and through the top half of his seat.

His firing ended quickly as Butler shot and killed him, not before the other man who was marking Butler fired too, hitting the man Butler had only wounded. It didn't take long for the bodyguard to take out the one remaining man and throw the now dead 'shield' aside.

When the firing stopped, Artemis raised his head, trying to avoid the glass that was now everywhere. He looked over to Butler, who was checking over the bodies of the four men and then the Land Rover. You could tell Butler had been through this process before, it took under a minute.

Butler saw him watching and quickly made his way over to Artemis' side of the car,

"Are you alright? Did you get hit? The glass?"

Artemis felt shaky and tried to level his voice as he answered, "I-I'm fine. No, I didn't get hit."

Butler took his young charges arm and helped him out of the car, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Yes I'm sure." He tried not to look at the dead and bleeding men on the ground.

"We have to be quick, there isn't much time," Butler said as he pulled him towards the Land Rover, brushing the glass off his jacket, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? There no way our pursuers would be so unprofessional, who do you think they were?"

"Just criminals I'm guessing Butler, by their attire, accent, even the way they chased us here. If our real pursuers know where we are, I'm guessing they wouldn't make such a public spectacle."

Butler nodded as they both got into the stolen Land Rover, the keys still in the ignition. In the distance they could hear sirens.

"That'll be the police," Artemis commented and he pulled on his seatbelt and Butler reversed out of the alley, "We will have attracted plenty of attention..."

----------------()----------------

((That's a pretty big chapter actually. And it's been revised quite a lot from the original, revised for the better I hope.

I'll leave it at that for a while, I'll try to leave it a few days before updating to gather a few more readers. Thanks for all reviews :)

Kez))


	4. Chapter 4

----------------()----------------

Artemis was worried, ever since the instance at fowl manor two days ago, he seemed to be a lot more emotional. He was even finding it hard keeping calm, which usually came easy to him when he wished it to.

Butler reversed out of the dingy alley and turned, just as they registered the sound of sirens in the distance. The manservant sped up slightly; a run-in with the police would be the last thing they wanted.

Those men might have been criminals, but nevertheless, he had killed them and he would still face the penalties of law if they caught him. It was just as well they had rented the car under a false name. There was no other way the pair could be connected to the shootings, neither of them had fingerprints on police record.

There was an uneasy silence for the next few minutes. Despite what he had been through during his short life, Artemis had never been directly involved with murder, especially not the kind committed by his bodyguard. The past happenings made him feel more troubled than before.

When a situation calls for the termination of life, it is a very disturbing situation to be a part of.

Artemis broke the silence, "Where are we going now?" They had left the sirens long behind them and were now travelling the streets once more.

"Our situation is basically the same as it was before. As far as we can tell, they have not tracked us further than Ireland, although they might be aware that we are in Canada. We should look for a hotel again."

Artemis nodded, leaning his head against the window. Despite that fact he had slept a lot more than Butler had, he was exhausted once again and could not bring himself to answer verbally. Without even noticing, he fell asleep once again, the passing streetlights hypnotizing him slightly.

When he did wake up, it was a good few minutes later, 10-15 at least. The car had stopped and Butler was not in the drivers seat.

Artemis felt the deja-vu wash over him, except, this time, his neck hurt worse than at the petrol station.

No one could go through any kind of violent physical contact with Butler without hurting a hell of a lot a while later.

He probably should have worried more too, considering they had just been jumped by some gun-toting maniacs and were now sitting in their attackers car, but before he had a chance to, Butler opened his door.

Artemis jumped slightly but relaxed on seeing Butler and asked, "Where are we?"

"Oh, you're awake. I found us a hotel but I thought I should check over the car before we go inside."

"Ok."

That was weird… Artemis never said 'ok'. The happenings of tonight must have really messed him up. Maybe he would feel better after a good nights sleep that didn't involve cars, guns or planes.

Butler helped him out of the Land Rover; it was parked in a car park full of rusting open tops and beaten up 4x4's .

They made their way past a few metres of cars and into an average building. It was not particularly memorable, although it did have a clean foyer, which Artemis was not expecting. From the outside, it just looked like some kind of random house that just happened to have a reception desk in it.

There was no one there, except an old married couple in a corner arguing fiercely in German and a receptionist that looked bored out of her mind. She perked up at the sight of them though and plastered a smile on her face.

"Good evening and welcome to the Ridgeway hotel. My name is Megan, how may I help you?"

Butler stepped up to the desk and spoke to her whilst Artemis looked around. There were three vending machines behind him, one selling bottles of water, one selling chocolate and one selling coke.

Beside them was a door marked 'W/C' and to his right, a door marked 'Rooms 1-18'.There was also a door that was glass and seemed to lead to some kind of bar.

A high-pitched giggle brought his attention back to the desk. Megan was flirting with Butler while he stood there looking impatient

"I adore your accent, it's just so outrageously cute." She beamed at him.

"Look, do you have free rooms or not?"

Megan giggled again but stopped when Butler shot her a stern look.

"Well, yes. We have one room, it's more two rooms stuck together, and there is an en-suite bathroom in each side and kitchenette too. One door though"

"We'll take it. One night."

"M'kay…" she tapped at her computer. "What's the name?"

"Casson. I'll pay cash."

"No problemo. You want breakfast?" she peered at Artemis, "Kids get half-price and it's free for under-fives."

"Do I look under five to you?" Artemis snapped at her.

"Geez, I was just saying…"

"No, no breakfast." Butler said, and as an afterthought, "Thanks."

"Ok, that'll be $--- please."

Butler handed over the cash. She tapped for a moment more on her computer then handed them a key.

"Room 14, just up the stairs." Butler nodded his thanks and they both headed to the door Artemis had seen.

Room 14 was relatively pleasant, it was everything the receptionist had said, two adjoining rooms with en-suites and a kitchenette.

Since they had no bags to unpack or anything to do at all, Artemis didn't really know what to do with himself. Butler asked him if he was ok again and if he wanted something to drink but Artemis shook his head. He went over to his bed, took his shoes off and slid under the covers, fully clothed. He was asleep within minutes.

It took Butler a bit longer. He checked each room carefully, trying not to wake Artemis up and sat down on his bed with the telephone directory that was in his beside table.

He was not looking for anything in particularly. He checked the second name of Juliet's friend but didn't find anything. Butler wasn't even sure if that was her second name. He scanned a few adverts for car rentals and such, keeping some in mind in case they ever needed something.

After a while, the sleep nagged at him too and he gave into it, checking Artemis was all right. He watched his young charge sleeping for a while and realised how much he had been through in such short a time.

Butler worried about Artemis. Sometimes, times like this reminded him just how much he cared… he mentally shook himself, checking the room one last time before settling down.

----------------()----------------

((A/N: Aww, I like Butler.

Apologies for the stereotypical American girl, the idea of anyone attempting to flirt with Butler makes me laugh so I thought I'd stick it in there.

Disclaimer: Not all American/Canadian people are like that :)

Well, bye. Don't forget to review, thanks to all who have reviewed so far. I love you all.))


End file.
